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Friday, May 31, 2013

L'Artisan Perfumeur Free Perfume Bottle Giveaway

No long post today as I'm running, but a lucky draw not to miss: a small perfume bottle of L'Artisan Parfumeur's Caligna, their latest creation inspired by Province, France. You can find more info on these pages, as posted previously, when I broke the news, and there's this snippet from L'Artisan Parfumeur:

"Caligna – meaning to « court » in the local Provençal dialect – is in essence the story of an encounter with nature in this glorious part of France. This new woody-aromatic Eau de Parfum captures and brings to life different impressions of the Grasse countryside.
It evokes a warm breeze blowing over the land, a sense of freedom in the wild open spaces, a lightness of being with laughter echoing into the distance."

Draw is open internationally; to be eligible leave a comment with some of your questions or musings on scent-related things and check back to see whether someone replies or has something to offer. Draw is open till Sunday midnight and winner will be announced shortly after.

91 comments:

I have a college friend who now lives in the lower French Alps, just above Provence. The first time I visited her, my flight arrived at night in Marseille, so we drove the 90 minutes to her village in utter darkness. Yet it was still warm enough to have the car windows opened a crack. So, although I could see virtually nothing (except for the remarkable fortefied village of Sisteron illuminated off the highway) for much of the drive, the herbaceous scent filling the car was unreal. Lavender, savory, rosemary, thyme, cyress. It was an incredible atmosphere, and I don't think I'll ever forget it.

Last weekend I was at the Barneys in Chicago, looking at the L'Artisans, and didn't see Seville a l'Aube. The salesperson said they weren't making it any more, and while I know it was introduced as a limited edition, I thought I had read that they were bringing it back. I'm hoping the salesperson was misinformed (as they often are).

We're having our first truly warm day here on Canada's east coast, with a warm breeze (finally!) blowing in through my office window, scented by lily of the valley (finally in bloom) and the ocean in the harbour about 1 kilometre away. Would love to compare this air to the breeze captured in Caligna!

And on the musings/questions front: I'd be interested in hearing what others have to say about how their noses have changed over time. I recently went back to try a fragrance I just didn't like the first 3 or 4 times I tried it (Heeley's Cuir Pleine Fleur). In fact, the first time I tried it, I got an instant headache. Then this week I found a sample in my decants pile and thought I'd give it another spritz--et voila--gorgeous! Have you had fragrances you didn't love at first sniff--but came back to later and found delightful?

On to scented musings - why is the 100 ml bottle of Une Rose by Frederic Malle so difficult to purchase online. I think the only place that has the 100 ml bottle is the FM website. Barney's only stocks the 50 ml ....perhaps because it's a very strong scent or not very popular ?

I'm an ocean away from home right now, spending my last few free months with my spouse, who lives in Belgium (for now). I brought no perfume - growing up in a hippie town with a mother who had a slightly misogynistic take on things that read as "useless" femininity, I didn't grow up with perfume as an option, and once I left home I was too intimidated to try. Stumbling upon a review of Sweet Anthem perfume was the kick in the bottom I needed, though, so I've bought samples of Anton, Joan, and Caroline, and a full Nell. I'm not looking forward to leaving my beloved, but I'm starving for those scents.

The weather in North Carolina has recently shifted from rainy, cool Spring to hot humid summer, and I find myself already missing those first few days of Summer, when everything was wet and flowers were all blooming at once and the temperature outside was perfect. Lately I've been wanting to find a fragrance that captures the scent of green things that have just been rained on. I'm sure that perfumers have been trying to capture that after-rain sense for decades, but I'm still a huge newbie to the fragrance world and thus haven't found anything that gets it right for me yet. The closest I've come is Forest Walk by Sonoma Scent Studio--to me there's just something about it that screams wet, dewy trees and new plants sprouting in the dirt after a hard rain.

The last couple of days I've been smelling a floral scent in the air in some parts of town (Western Massachusetts), and I don't know what it is. I grew up elsewhere and don't know all the local smells. It's sweet and overripe, like honeysuckle, but definitely a different flower. I wonder if I will find it before the blossoms fade?

Hooray, a draw! I'm delighted that Caligna has a pine note. It's a favorite smell from my childhood backyard.

What kind of hedges do they have in French and Italian Renaissance gardens? There is a particular smell that I always associate with Versailles and the Boboli gardens, and memories of travels through Europe. I think it is a common bush because I smell it in the U.S. from time to time.....

Out and about on the first Hot Day here, yesterday, made me aware of how much I enjoy the scents and dappled shade afforded by city gardens. Such a blessing but none, alas, will compare with the scent of Grasse.

Still, there's something fine and pleasing about the scent of heated pavements when you haven't experienced it for so long!

Cheerio, Anna in Edinburgh (where it isn't so hot and sunny today, of course)

I think playing around with the bottles on my mom's dressing table was what sparked my interest in perfumes.

She had some great classics like Estee Lauder Youth Dew (I tried to use the gold ribbon around to tie my ponytail), a teeny-tiny small bottle of Hermes Caleche, Nina Ricci's L'Air Du Temps and Madame Rochas, among others. The great thing about it was this was all before some of them were discontinued or reformulated beyond recognition ...

Oooooh, what a lovely giveaway! I have been so attracted to this ever since I saw the use of " Grasse countryside" and "pine" descriptors. Usually I like my fragrances to smell as if I've been rolling all around the forest floor picking up sap and last night's campfire on the way, but I know that won't be appropriate for the hot, dry summer. So I've been trying to incorporate fragrances that include woody/pine/fir notes such as AG Eau d'Hadrien and Encens Flamboyant. Does anyone have any suggestions for other lightened up woody fragrances for the summer? I still would love to have a woody-prominent fragrance. Thank you in advance!

Yes! I really want to try Caligna and would love to win this. It is stinking hot outside today (not my favorite weather) so I am wearing AG l'Eau d'Hadrien. Still undecided about whether I love it, but it is nice on me. Thanks for this draw!

Hi Elena! First of all let me mention how much I enjoy reading your website: it might be the only one where I read texts that express a thought about fragrances while still remaining relevant to the fragrance world (by which I mean your quotes of authors or philosophers never seem gratuitous as they feel on certain blogs and always serve the topic you're tackling). All in all, with Bois de Jasmin, my favorite perfume blog. As for the musings, I keep wondering why Serge Lutens latest perfumes have been getting bad to moderate reviews: De profundis and une voix noire are to me among his best works, and definitely indicate an interesting new direction for his line which might answer my question to some extent I guess. Any thoughts?I hope I'll get to smell Caligna: the combination of Clary sage and Jasmine is intriguing to say the least.

Your description of Caligna gave me an involuntary shiver of bliss as I envisioned myself frolicking about Provence, maybe on a bicycle. Maybe wearing a sundress. I would love to try this. My fragrance today is Comptoir Sud Pacifique Aouda which, to my nose, is ROSE+GERANIUM+barely oud. I bought unsniffed and didn't like it at first because I was looking for oud and didn't get the dose I wanted. However, it grew on me and I realized that what I love about Amouage Lyric shows up in this fragrance, but in a more accessiblle, easy-going way. Dat geranium, mmmm.

So bored with too sweet fruit/floral fragrancesHerbal scents are by far and large my faves ,but very rare in contemporary perfumerieThank you for the drawWould love to try a new herbal fragrancePhanie Constanda

"Herbal" is a category that should get a lot more attention from perfumers. Herbals are refreshing without being sharp (as citrus and greens can sometimes be) and suited for those, like me, who don't like overly sweet fragrances. A favortie of mine in this category is Reglisse Noire from 1000Flowers.

i would LOVE this! i have very fond memories of the wind moving over the hills in provence, bringing the smells of the pine trees above, the lavender in the fields, and the other mixed herbal scents of the countryside...

Caligna sounds very Mediterranean and so pretty.The shampoo I use (from the Apivita range) has clary sage as an ingredient and smells wonderfully. Since I became interested in perfume a few months ago, I began wondering whether there is a perfume with a clary sage note - et voila!

On another note (no pun intended), scent of the day was Lys Soleia and tomorrow will be Osmanthus Interdite. I tend to alternate between those two these days.

I am trying today a wax sample of SL Fleurs D'Oranger. It hot in DC but Fleurs D'Oranger don't intoxicate with headache inducing sweetness! Of course- one dot does a lot- rule applies! I am surprised how much I like it!Since I am pretty new to perfume world, I didn't try any herbal perfumes! I would love to experience scents of Provance!

I walk my dog every day in the woods behind my house. With every change of the season the smells change as well. In winter when everything is frozen, smells are frozen as well and are barely there. In spring everything explodes, lots of lilly of the valley, blooming trees, rhododendron (don't know the English word for that). In summer in the middle of the woods there is a circle of linden trees that smell devine. And in the fall the leaves on the ground and mushrooms emit a nostalgic fragrance of decay. My favorit is the summer, I am forever looking for a bottled up summer wood fragrance.

I'm enthused by the trend for traditionally masculine notes such as Pine and Clary Sage increasingly entering the female/unisex marketplace. These aromatic notes are so euphoric and clarifying, the perfect antidote to city life, indeed an escape to the country. I bought Serge Luten's Fille en Aiguilles after a holiday in Palma Mallorca, another fragrance with a pine note. It reminds me of a late evening ramble up a pine clustered hillside where the resins oozed from the trees amplified by extreme summer heat. It was very dark indeed, only a little light from the nearby village and a slither of a moon. Our blindness was taken over by the stimulation of our sense of smell, which in turn left us somewhat amorous! I would definitely like to try Caligna and see what memory it will effect..

Thank you for this draw! It's so wonderful. My comment on scent musings will be directed to another poster, Amy, who asked about a floral scent she'd noticed around Western Massachusetts. Now I am not too certain if these are present there, but from what you describe, I wonder if it may be the Black Locust tree. I know they're present around the East Coast, and I remember them from my childhood in southern Europe. I find the scent really beautiful, and I'd love to smell it in a perfume.

I have loved reading these comments! And I love the sound of this scent. I will never forget my visit to Grasse and Eze, climbing the ocean cliffs covered in vines and succulents up to the perfume factory. The South of France is magical!

I have loved reading these comments! And I love the sound of this scent. I will never forget my visit to Grasse and Eze, climbing the ocean cliffs covered in vines and succulents up to the perfume factory. The South of France is magical!

What a great draw! I love to read all of the different thoughts on scent. An anonymous someone asked if there was anyone else who gave a hated scent a second chance only to discover that they now love it. YES! I have most recently experienced this with Mona di Orio's Jabu, but this has happened to me so many times that I am now reluctant to get rid of any samples or decants that I have. I find that it really matters what I have been smelling in the days prior and also how warm, cold, dry or damp the weather is. I love most of the L'Artisan line, so I really hope to try this one, it sounds wonderful.

My favourite Artisan is Mure et Musc and Coeur de Vetiver Sacré, which it seems to be discontinued and I 'm very sad about that.... I don't know how it is this Caligna but I'm more curious about the new one coming soon : Côtes d'amour....but I don't know exactly when?? Does anyone has an idea?

I've been eagerly awaiting to try this perfume as the brief sounds like a perfume I often imagine in my head being the epitome of spring turning into summer.I keep wondering if someone might turn the smell of summer in the city into a perfume? Although I don't imagine it might sell good - the humid air with the smell of dust and hot asphalt and dried grass and generally scorched city. But I love it. :)

I've only recently started "experimenting" with perfumes so it's all new & exciting to me.This certainly sounds like something you wouldn't pick up from a mainstream perfumery counter so I'd love the chance to try this.I have sampled Fille en Aiguilles which is piney & I loved that so much that I bought a full size bottle so it sounds as if I might love this one too

Smell of pine needles under the sun remind me my summer holidays in our small wooden cottage in the countryside. But there were no fig trees (central Europe...) so I cannot imagine how this perfume could smell. Maybe I am lucky enough to win this giveaway? :-)

Thanks for the draw, Caligna sounds interesting and I can't wait to explore some new scents. I live in a city so I'm really depending on perfumes to give me a 'nature scent' kick. It was raining today so it smells like rain. Spritz myself with Bois de Iles just because. (:

We are heading into winter where I live and today it rained solidly all day. I spent the afternoon reading one of Georges Simenon's Maigret novels, drinking chai and wearing L'Heure Bleue. Lovely! As well as being cinematic, Simenon's novels are very smell oriented. I always think of wet streets, pipe smoke, damp wool, anisette, and the strong, oriental and chypre-ish scents his female characters would have worn.

Thank you so much for this draw! I always love to try new perfumes and the L'Artisans always hold an extra appeal.On to the the musing: I finally managed managed to get my hands on a bottle of Bronze Goddess, expecting a sunwarmed scent..instead I get cold coconut and minty toothpaste. Anyone else have a similar experience or an idea hex it smells like that in me?

I'm very curious to try this perfume! I recently found out that my local Artisan Parfumeur (in Covent Garden, London) closed down last weekend... I'm really sad as where will I be able to try out new perfumes from the line now? :( I hope the shop closing isn't a start of a new trend in these economically difficult times...

My comment is in reply to Anna in Edinburgh who extols the virtue of city gardens. Can't but agree; the breeze felt while sitting on a bench, the foliage of the trees rustling, the scents of the vegetation, the flowers, the trees, the dogs, the passerby dogs' owners, the earth and the remnants of rain make for a most relaxing cocktail. And to Marie, could it be ligustrum or privet?

Anyway, thank you once again for the generous draw, I would very much like to try out Caligna, and for all the beauty you put into this blog which is certainly among the very best.

Thanks for the draw. I've been musing about how perfume and poetry seem to overlap. Perhaps because they both try to get at the essence of a thing through impressions? In any case it doesn't seem uncommon that those who love perfume love words in this way too. Plus I've been totally stumped by juniper lately! I have a sample and every time I smell it I think it's something else. What a trickster :)

Sounds so nice. This is the time of year when I do think of France, of Provence inparticular, and wonder what les belles femmes are scented with now. Or if they absorb, (perhaps by osmosis?) the scent of the very air they breathe.

Im spending the summer with my Mom in northern California. We still had the heat on up here in the mountains until yesterday. The smells are incredible: pine needles, resin, smokey fires, cut grass, damp earth, and somewhere in the distance, tar. Amazing.And to the Canadian post near the top, yes my tastes have changed incredibly through my perfume journey. It makes me not want to give away full bottles or my only sample of something. I'm also more reluctant to buy a full bottle without quite a bit of sampling beforehand.Thank you for the great draw.

hmm, herbal? I've been stuck on incense (Comme de Garçon Avugnon, Kyoto, Jovoy La Litugrer des Heures) and leathers (Cuir, Bandit) for the last few months but it finally looks like summer here in Alberta - it's been a month since the last snow! Maybe it's time for summer scents?

Lovely give away! I have not been able to try any L'Artisan perfumes but am very curious. Today is very hot and breezy in Connecticut and I am remembering the unique smell of the water in the river I spent summers on as a child. A scientist friend of mine tells me migrating fish find their way 'home' to spawn by the smell of the water. I totally understand!

Thank you for this giveaway drawing! I've been curious about Caligna -- such an interesting combination of notes-- clary sage, pine needles, oak chips, rose bud, mandarin leaf...I have a hard time imagining what this combination would be like. But my husband and I own 4 other L'Artisans and admire the house, generally.

I would love to try this as I'm very fond of L'Artisan fragrances. The first time I saw Provence I thought I had died and gone to heaven. The light there was truly remarkable and made all the colors from sky and earth just sing.

Ah, Ines and MariGo84 have the same regard for hot city streets and the relief afforded by the shade from planted gardens:-)

Funnily enough, I wondered whether there was a word for the smell of hot pavements, like there's a word (petrichor) for the pleasant smell that often accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather, but I can't find one. Can anyone assist in finding one or coining one?

Thanks for the generous draw!What does it mean 'caligna'?And how is it pronounced?It sounds like something exotic and tropical...Hoewever, the lacender always challenges me. It's difficult for me to love it at once. Eau Noire and Lovely are my kind of lavender. Hope Caligna is also.

Sniffing Around: oh yes, my scent perceptions change all the time! That's why there are so few perfumes that I truly love, and then again it makes those few so precious to me. Plus, I used to love perfume, then hated it for some decades, and now am entranced once more.

Melanie: I've tried the Eau Moheli and if you're in the US I could send you what's left of my sample, if you'd like. (If so, contact me at a l e d e r b e r g attt h o t m a i l ).

I loved Moheli up front. Gorgeous treatment of ylang ylang, not too froofy, a fantastic note but so rarely handled with this kind of delicacy. However the drydown on me felt a bit "generic perfume -- floral category." Possibly that's because I don't know how to identify the intricacies. But in any case, I didn't especially love wearing it after the first couple of hours. Another strange phenomenon: we also spritzed a paper blotter and kept it in the medicine cabinet for many weeks. On paper, I loved Moheli that whole time. I didn't keep any notes, though, so I'm afraid I can't tell you why.

The Caligna reviews I've found so far are not overwhelmingly positive. I'd sure like to find out for myself, though! Thanks for entering me in the draw.

I have a hard time finding fragrances that are my style but that work for summer... I have similar problems with my clothing too. I just love the dark heavy stuff I guess. ;) But I do love fig, so Caligna might be a good candidate for summer!!

Oh goodness! This is an amazing giveaway. I am a bit confused right now with my scent choices: something in me does not let go of the wintery comfort scents on the one hand and on the other, something inside of me does not stop thinking about big beautiful flowers. Thanks!

My previous comment disappeared for some reason. I am right now enjoying very much Premier Figuier although I am not a fig scent lover. I am not fond of the paradigmatic Philosykos for instance but somehow this L'Aartisan works well for me.Thanks for the draw

Thanks so much for the generous giveaway draw.As for scent musings: this week on the way into dinner at a friend's house I was engossed in sniffing each of the lilac bushes the dinner was good, but the lilacs were glorious. I'll be cat-sitting for the same friend this month just as the huge mock orange on her patio is coming into full bloom. Pure bliss.Yet, when it comes to wearing perfumes, I am always more drawn to woodier scents and just today picked up some vintage Eau de Calandre. I'd love to try the Caligna.

David, I've heard that SL's Fleurs d'Oranger is good, although I haven't tried it yet . I also like Jo Loves Orange Trulle, but I don't think it's orange blossom, just sweet orange goodness plus other things. Smells very natural.

I got to try this at a little informal meeting with a Sales VP of L'Artisan. I ended up buying The Pour un Ete instead as it was really warm that day and it just felt so refreshing. Caligna I wasn't too sure about, it was good, but not sure if it was full bottle worth and especially since it's slightly more expensive than the regular line. In response to another reader's comment, I have come back to scents I originally disliked and ended up liking more. (more often than the other direction) So I did get a sample of Caligna, and after each wearing, I've come to like it more and more. Now I'd love to have a full bottle! If only they would make a fragrance of just that "Jasmine Marmalade" accord...

Do to being really sick for a long time (back issues) I would really like to be able to sit in a wide open space and just enjoy the nature of it all. I used to play a lot of golf and loved the smell of the woodsy pines and fresh green cut grass. The wind would be so full of the smells all around the valleys where the golf courses were at. Everything was so natural. Sure miss those days. I would like to be entered in the drawing. Thank You

To Kingpharroh, Premier Figuier and Phylosikos are quite similar on my skin. But Premier Figuier has a lightness and playfulness and Phylosikos is more of a heavy thinker/hitter. That's how I saw it - as a difference in tone and texture. Probably a more sophisticated read would take into account things like how the composition unfolds but not I am not that discerning. Both are full bottle worthy. I agonized forever over the two and decided with relief that I would just have to have both. Now I wish I could own Mure et Musc extreme and Voleur de Rose. L'Artisan is wonderful for creating a range of niche but not hideously overpriced perfumes.

I was wondering if anyone else has had a chance to check out the range of fragrances from Fueguia 1833 - there has recently been a selection added to luckyscent. I was adventurous enough to get the sample pack and have a few favourites already (Pampa Humeda, Castillos, Xocolatl). Would be great to see if anyone else had checked them out.

I'm always intrigued when a perfume attempts to evoke the atmosphere of a certain place. Trying to convey "wide open spaces" is even more interesting. I look forward to seeing how they're going to pull it off.

I'm located in the Canadian prairies where the vast, flat quilted landscape gracefully meets up with the sandy Boreal forest complete with pine, spruce, and birch trees. It's beautiful here in my city and, during this time of year, is bursting with the lovely scent of lilacs! Even more so in my home as there is a large bouquet sitting in my living room. How I would love to win this bottle of fragrance. I've only just begun my perfume collection and Dzing! is the only L'Artisan I own a small sample of as there is no where I can find it near me. Thank you for the opportunity as my Dzing! is a prized possession and used very sparingly. I would love to experience more!

Elena Vosnaki has been the Perfume History Curatorof the Be Open Foundation exhibitionThe Garden of Wonders, A Journey in Scents in Milan EXPO, as well as a guest lecturer at the Athens School of Fine Arts. She was Fragrance Expert onAbout.com. Her writing has been twice shortlisted in FIFI Editorial Excellence Awards and is extensively quoted by authors. She is an evaluating expert on Osmoz.com. Interviews regarding Vosnaki's unique status as perfume historian & writer appear in VOGUE Hellas, ICON Magazine and Queen.gr